Baby, You Ain’t in the South



Phenola Moore
This is the outfit I was wearing.

“Baby, you ain’t in the South,” yelled the male passenger in the car that zoomed past me. He was pointing to my clothing as I was walking across the street at the shopping center. It was a warm mid-September day and I was decked out in a multi-colored orange/cream/fuchsia top, off-white skirt with matching shoes.

His comment was wrong on two ways. One, Maryland is a southern state. And two, you can wear white after Labor Day.

Although I am not a fashion guru, I was taught that you can wear white. It just depends on how you wear it, where you live, the occasion and thickness of the fabric.

“Dispelling the Myth: Wear White After Labor Day,” article stated, “… beginning in the early 20th century, white clothing was a symbol of “well-to-do” Americans. It was a status symbol for those who were able to change their clothes by season, white during the summer and darker colors in the winter. It wasn’t proper etiquette to wear white after Labor Day, specifically any clothing below the waist.” (http://boston.cbslocal.com/2011/08/30/dispelling-the-myth-wear-white-after-labor-day/). Therefore, wearing a pure white blouse, shirt, tie, etc. was acceptable and is still worn without questioning all year round.

And people in warmer clients usually don’t haggle over whether they can wear white after Labor Day. Ryan Patterson, Access Hollywood said, “Here in Southern California and in places like Florida and Hawaii, white can absolutely be worn after Labor Day,” (http://www.accesshollywood.com).

Also, wearing white during certain religious services year round is acceptable. Traditionally, the bride and flower girl wore it during the wedding ceremony. And now, sometimes the groom and other participants in the wedding party wear it, too.

Members of the clergy wear white robes. And congregants in certain denominations wear white during ceremonies like Communion.

A white linen jacket may be too thick to wear during a New England winter. But white clothing in thicker fabrics like that in a downs coat, leather, corduroy, etc will work.

But if you are still uncomfortable with wearing a pure white suit, jacket, pants or dress, other shades of white like ecru, off-white, cream, winter white, will satisfy your white attire requirement.

Finally, Project Runway Mentor, Tim Guinn’s said in a “Shine” article “I really believe most of these rules are made to be broken. Maybe not head-to-toe white after Labor Day, but for goodness sakes, it's still hot out! People should simply dress in a way that they feel confident and that they feel they look good in.” (http://shine.yahoo.com).

Click on http://blogs.indiewire.com/shadowandact/short-but-sweet-michelle-obama-talks-about-first-kiss-with-the-president-on-the-steve-harvey-show to view Michelle Obama in her off-white pants suit that she wore on the Steve Harvey Show in October.

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